I'm a Going all D.R. on Ya's

I try not to be a preachy, little thing BUT.....I'm me. And me? A little on the preachy side at times.

So, the other day, when I heard Dave Ramsey on the radio, I instantly whipped out my handy-dandy pen and pad that I keep in my purse for such literary moments of brilliance*, and I copied down all the particulars so I could share one of the BEST, read that again, B-E-S-T, examples I've ever heard in my life.

So here goes (jumping on my soap box):
Let's say you make $58,000 per year. Your current spending is $75,000 per year, so you have a deficit, per year, of $17,000.

On top of your annual deficit, you also have $327,000 in credit card debt.

You decide to reduce your spending DRASTICALLY. After all, at the rate you are going, you will be in debt for the rest of your life. So, after careful consideration, you reduce your spending to $72,000 per year and throw yourself a big, honking party in celebration of the fact that you just reduced your spending.

Does this sound ridiculous? It should.

But, sadly, this is exactly what is being proposed in Washington, D.C. as I type this.

Are you awake now? I know I AM! In fact, I'm pretty pissed off about this.

I'm not all gung-ho about teachers losing their jobs or Social Security benefits being reduced or Medicare being slashed. But, dadgumit! Something has to change or we won't even have the money to run our government.

I'm sick and tired of one side of the table or the other passing bills with pork bellies that cost us millions of dollars for special interest groups. Bridges to nowhere don't belong in any bill, in any century. Sorry.

I'm beyond hacked that legislators think the correct way to deal with a bill they don't like is to leave the state. Show me a job where, when you disagree with the person who hired you, you can walk out the door in a show of disgust and I'll show you what a pink slip looks like. Good luck in '12, folks!

I'm sick of hearing what a great job this new budget is going to do to reduce debt when the truth is that it only reduces debt if we discount the interest we have to pay on the debt we already have.** We've dug our hole, now we get to wallow in it.

I hate that shows like Sesame Street and This Old House might actually go off the air if funding for public broadcasting is cut. However, there are quite a few paid channels that could pick up these shows. If they are worth their weight, they'll survive.

Times are changing. You can either decide you want to change with them by cleaning up your financial act and getting yourself out of debt or you can go down the crapper with the rest of the U.S. It really is your choice. You really do have control.

But, please. If you decide to do nothing, which is where it looks like our government is heading, please don't whine when times get tough.

You'll have no one to blame but yourself.

(Hearing seething anger coming from several of you reading this, I'm coming off my soapbox before you begin throwing tomatoes.)


*Let's just say I've had this thing for weeks, probably months, and I've used it for to-do lists, notes to teachers, scratch sheets for children bored in carpool line, but only this once for true writing purposes. Guess that says something about my lack of inspiration lately, eh?

**If you have credit card debt, go ahead and call VISA. I'll wait. When you get someone on the line, tell them you are going to pay $100 toward your revolving debt and want that money to reduce the principle by exactly $100. Sorry to say, the rep on the other line will laugh at you until you hang up.